News Library
INSIDE UB
Published on September 30, 2002
Author: STEPHEN WATSON - News Staff Reporter
© The Buffalo News Inc.
Paying for extreme-sports star Tony Hawk to put on a skateboarding demonstration: $22,500.
Paying for Michael Buffer to bellow his signature, "Let's get ready to rumble": $15,000. Getting to use the name "Screech" in this column: Priceless. UB's athletic department paid $53,500 to bring four celebrities to its first two home football games. "Why do you bring a Tony Hawk in? Because we want to get more people to come to our events," said Paul Vecchio, UB's sports information director. "Families with kids -- that's our target audience." Hawk performed at the Sept. 14 University of Connecticut game. The golden-throated Buffer was joined at the Aug. 29 Lehigh University game by "The Rocketman," an unnamed pilot who flew around the stadium in a jet pack at halftime for $13,000, and by Dustin Diamond, the actor best known as the annoying Screech on TV's "Saved by the Bell." Diamond received the least amount of money, $3,000, but did the most work for UB, everything but suiting up to cover kickoffs. He recorded a message sent to every students' voice mail, emceed a pregame party and signed autographs during the game. Vecchio said the money for the celebrities -- about the cost of a new assistant professor -- came out of the athletic department's marketing budget. He said UB has to spend money on promotions to make its games more of an event and to compete in the crowded local entertainment market. Attendance at the first game was 21,103; at the second game, 17,012. The only problem? About half the crowd left after halftime at both games. The co-presidents of UB's National Organization for Women chapter drove to Syracuse this past weekend to protest Wal-Mart's labor practices. Christen Archer-Pierrot and Gina Cali were among about 20 people who distributed between 400 and 500 fliers Saturday at the entrance to the Wal-Mart store in DeWitt, a Syracuse suburb. "Wal-Mart might have low prices, but it's at a high cost to women and people of color," the fliers said.The federal government is awarding a team of UB scientists a $2 million research grant that will boost efforts to use new technologies in protein-structure determination, which is a key part of designing new drugs. The National Science Foundation grant goes to scientists affiliated with UB's Strategically Targeted Academic Research Center in Disease Modeling and Therapy Discovery. Russ Miller, the director of UB's Center for Computational Research, is the principal investigator. e-mail: swatson@buffnews.com
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